The Sims 3 iPhoneReview

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This is not some port. This is real deal Sims for the iPhone.

By Levi Buchanan

On the same day that zillions of PC gamers pick up the latest edition of the juggernaut Sims series, iPhone gamers are also moving in with their little digital folks. The Sims 3 for iPhone is not a direct port of the PC game, but it is also definitely not a watered down Sims game shoved on to an iPhone. Sims 3 for iPhone is its own experience -- designed not only specifically for the iPhone, but also for the iPhone gamer.

Sims 3 for the iPhone starts with a solid Sim creator where you choose the gender and general appearance of your Sim. However, the true customization of your Sims takes place when you craft its personality through the selection of traits (both positive and negative) and the assumption of a persona. The persona is an overarching guide for your Sim that gives you as much structure for the game as you need -- and likely want. Each persona has a handful of lifetime wishes that you aim to satisfy, such as wanting to watch three people sleep if you are the Maniac or the desire to WooHoo with multiple Sims (not at the same time, mind you) if you adopt the Sleaze persona.

The lifetime wishes are not the only desires of your Sim. Each day, your Sim barrages you with smaller wishes like wanting a promotion at work or acquire a new recipe. You are not required to accept every wish thrown at you. Choosing wishes gives you a constant stream of mini-goals that keeps the game moving forward. According to EA Mobile, there are almost 75 wishes in the game. If you manage to satisfy all of them, you unlock an extra career option (criminal) and the ability to buy a car. Finishing all of these wishes will likely take you between 12 and 14 hours, but that's if you move from one wish to the next like a tiger. I'm not exactly sure how enjoyable it would be to treat this game as a checklist. I definitely preferred to just let things happen and see what "life" would throw at my Sim.

Daddy's a total Sleaze.

In addition to personality and appearance, Sims are personalized by their houses. You start with a smallish house and some essential items, such a fridge, shower, and toilet. At the end of your fifth game day, you can buy a house expansion for $1,000. As you earn money, you can buy new items for your house like stoves, beds, and computers. Using the touch-controlled catalog to scroll through items is easy. You can customize items with different colors so they match personal tastes. And when it comes time to place items in your house, a very simple grid shows where you can place items. Green is an available space, which strips unnecessary guesswork out of the equation.

Not only do items help dress up the place, but also serve to meet your Sim's needs. A hungry Sim needs food from the kitchen, such as a snack from the fridge or cooked on the stove. A dirty Sim needs a shower. A sleepy Sim must get some rest before they get miserable. Addressing these needs also results in mood changes that affect the general happiness of your Sim. For example, after getting a full night's sleep, your Sim is Well-Rested. Being in a better mood because of things like a great sleep or good meal means they will do better out in the city.

Of course, you cannot buy any of the items needed to address needs without money. To earn money, you need a career. There are four careers in the town: biology, politics, business, and culinary. To get a job, just report to the career's associated building (for culinary, go to the restaurant) and accept the gig. You must then keep heading back to that building for your scheduled shift to keep the job and get paid daily.

And the game keeps going. There are social encounters that must be managed, too. This was easily my favorite part of the game. The town is full of other Sims, each with their own personalities. To start a conversation, you simply walk up to another Sim around town or in front of their house. Next, a menu appears around you and the other Sim that shows you a handful of conversation topics, such as romance or humor. Once you select a topic, you then have specific actions like telling a joke or flirting. How the other Sim reacts to your actions affects your relationship. When you first meet another Sim, you are acquaintances. As you initiate actions the other Sims like (as seen by green + symbols over their head), your relationship improves. I like the easy-to-read meter that fills around the current relationship status, showing you how close you are to taking it to the next level.

You'll be "hooked" on Sims 3. Get it? Hooked? There's a fish in the picture!

In fact, some much of the game is simple to use that it makes the cumbersome or un-fun stuff really stand out. For example, Sims like to eat prepared recipes. After acquiring a recipe from the store and learning it, you can make it in your kitchen. However, you need to have the necessary ingredients to complete the recipe. If you don't have at least one of each ingredient, the recipe is denied. If you want to make it, you have to hoof it all the way back out of your house to the city map and to the supermarket. Why not gray out a recipe if you don't have all of the ingredients? Or perhaps give the player an easy way to buy ingredients from the kitchen so it doesn't break the flow. It's also too bad you cannot easily cancel accepted wishes to take on new ones that you might find more interesting once you have filled the wish panel. (You get to have five accepted wishes active at a time.)

The minigames are also a mixed bag. Fishing is totally natural. You move the iPhone to direct the hook in the water and when a fish nibbles at it, you jerk the iPhone up to land the catch. The cooking event, though, is Cooking Mama-lite. Tapping pots and shaking the iPhone to keep them cool feels like busy work instead of a minigame.

For the most part, Sims 3 for iPhone looks great. There are occasional slips like Sims merging into each other in social settings, but the Sims themselves are nicely detailed and have good animations, such as when they make silly faces or try to get all kissy-faced. The town itself looks pretty good and is easy to navigate by touching buildings, although it is somewhat odd that Sims in the town map are represented as little blue and yellow Playmobil characters as they move around town. I understand this has some technical reasoning behind it, but with as much effort as you make to personalize your Sim, to see him or her reduced to a general figurine is disappointing. It would be cool to see this town be truly alive.

Wait, is this the Sims or the Smurfs?

The Sims 3, in its current form, does not have any online component, nor does it have any of the commerce EA Mobile discussed at the iPhone OS 3.0 launch. EA Mobile has indicated that in-app purchasing will be in a future upgrade to the game. It is likely you will be able to buy items and clothing for Sims 3. However, to make this feature worthwhile, Sims 3 will need an online component where you can show your Sim and house to other players. The exclusion of these does not affect the score for Sims 3, though. The game is indeed a complete package and you will not be disappointed with the amount of content in this initial download.

Sims 3 was reviewed with version 1.0.

The Verdict

I am truly impressed that EA Mobile did not treat Sims 3 for the iPhone as an inferior product to the flagship game, which is something you often see in DS or mobile editions of existing franchises. This was not shoved out to make a quick buck in the shadow of the PC game. The amount of content and detail betrays a real dedication to making a complete Sims experience for a new screen. Despite occasional bugaboos and odd interface decisions, Sims 3 is a quality game that comes seriously recommended.